You Don’t Understand White Privilege

Having white privilege does not mean that you face no disadvantages, or even that you face less disadvantages than others. White privilege means that the disadvantages you face in life are not caused by your race. It means that there are disadvantages in life that non-white people face that are unique to non-white people.

For example: White people in the United States have the unique privilege of being able to easily turn on the TV and find programs where people who look like them are represented. White people have the privilege of allowing their children to play with toy weapons outside the home without fear for the child’s safety and well being. White people have the privilege of anticipating that their new neighbors will probably be pleasant or neutral towards them. White people have the privilege of knowing that if they were pulled over while driving, or dealt with extra airport security, that it didn’t happen because of their race. These are white privileges.

The point of discussing white privilege isn’t to make anyone feel guilt, and certainly is not to gauge the difficulty of anyone’s life — there is truly no way to do this.

The point of discussing white privilege is to help identify areas where white people have privileges that other people still don’t — so we can work together to address those problems.

And if we want to make a change, we have to be able to have an open and honest conversation about what those changes need to be.